Lever switch with operating lever means detachable from movable contact carrying member only in neutral position

ABSTRACT

A lever switch comprises (a) converter means rotatably supported in a switch receptacle for rocking left-and-right and converting a movable contact plate relative to a stationary contact or contacts, and (b) a lever for actuating said converter means which is formed separately from said converter means. Said lever and said converter means are connected with each other by engaging the upper surface portion of a lug, provided at a lower portion of the inner surface of said lever, with a corresponding surface portion of said converter means so that when the assembly of said lever and said converter means is at the neutral position relative to the switch receptacle said lever can be detached resiliently from said converter means, whereas when the assembly is at either of the rocked end positions said lever cannot be detached from said converter means, by reason of the fact that a lower portion of the outer surface of said lever contacts with the inner wall surface of the receptacle at the same time when the inner lug of said lever engages a corresponding portion of said converter means.

United States Patent [191 Kodaira [75] Inventor: Yasuo Kodaira, Tokyo,Japan [73] Assignee: Nihon Kaiheiki Industrial Company Ltd., Tokyo,Japan [22] Filed: Oct. 21, 1971 211 App]. No.: 191,225

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 10, I970 [52] U.S. Cl.200/172 R, 200/167 A [51] Int. Cl H01h 3/04, HOlh 9/16, I-IOlh 23/24[58] Field of Search 200/172 R, 167 A,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1971 Ohashi 200/167 A3,651,296 3/1972 Yarbrough 200/167 A 3,308,260 3/1967 Krieger et a1.200/167 A X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,406,934 6/1965 France200/172 R Japan .45/108089 Sept. 25, 1973 Primary Examiner-J. V. TruheAssistant Examiner-Robert A. Vanderhye Attorney-Pierce, Scheffler andParker [57] ABSTRACT A lever switch comprises (a) converter meansrotatably supported in a switch receptacle for rocking left-andright andconverting a movable contact plate relative to a stationary contact orcontacts, and (b) a lever for actuating said converter means which isformed separately from said converter means. Said lever and saidconverter means are connected with each other by engaging the uppersurface portion of a lug, provided at a lower portion of the innersurface of said lever, with a corresponding surface portion of saidconverter means so that when the assembly of said lever and saidconverter means is at the neutral position relative to the switchreceptacle said lever can be detached resiliently from said convertermeans, whereas when the assembly is at either of the rocked endpositions said lever cannot be detached from said converter means, byreason of the fact that alower portion of the outer surface of saidlever contacts with the inner wall surface of the receptacle at the sametime when the inner lug of said lever engages a corresponding portion ofsaid converter means.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures LEVER SWITCH WITH OPERATING LEVER MEANSDETACHABLE FROM MOVABLE CONTACT CARRYING MEMBER ONLY IN NEUTRAL POSITIONThis invention relates to electric switches, and is con- 'cerned withthe provision of an improved design of lever switch.

According to the present invention, the novel switch comprises (a) aconverter means rotatably supported in a switch receptacle for rockingleft-and-right and converting a movable contacl plate relative to astationary contact or contacts, and (b) a lever for actuating saidconverter means which is formed separately from said converter means.Said lever and said converter means are connected with each other byengaging the upper surface portion of a lug, provided at a lower portionof the inner surface of said lever, with a corresponding surface portionof said converter means so that when the assembly of said lever and saidconverter means is at the neutral position relative to the switchreceptacle said lever can be detached resiliently from said convertermeans, whereas when the assembly is at either of the rocked endpositions said lever cannot be detached from said converter means, byreason of the fact that a lower portion of the outer surface of saidlever contacts with the inner wall surface of the receptacle at the sametime when the inner lug of said lever engages a corresponding portion ofsaid converter means.

The invention now will be described with greater particularity in thefollowing disclosure taken with the accompanying drawing, in which FIG.1 is a side elevational view of a switch according to the invention;

FIG. 2 (a) and FIG. 2 (b) are its decomposed perspective views;

FIG. 3 is a partial side view showing an undesirable condition ofengagement; and

FIG. 4 is a partial side view showing a desirable condition ofengagement.

Detailed explanation of the invention:

The invention relates to the construction of a lever switch in which alever as an operating member of the switch is mounted detachable, whileit is never detached at the end positions of operation in normal use.

Referring to the drawings, 1 isa base member of the switch and 2 is acover member, which both members constitute a receptacle of the switch.The cover 2 has attached thereto at its left and right hand sidesurfaces spring plates 3 which are utilized when the switch is mountedin a hole of a panel and the like. 4 is a lever as an operating memberof the switch, and 5 is a converting member for actuating the switchingconversion of contacts of the switch, which both members are formedoriginally separated from each other as shown in FIG. 2 (a) and (b)respectively.

The lever 4 is formed hollow with an upwardly projecting portion foroperating said switch, as seen from the section view shown in FIG. 1,and has projections 6 formed downwards at the lower ends of its left andright hand side walls as shown in FIG. 2 (a). Further, each ofprojections 6 has a lug 7 formed on its inner surface and a downwardlyextending extension below the lug 7. The lever 4 is made of suchamaterial that its lower projections 6 have proper resilient flexibility.

The converter 5 has a configuration such as that shown in FIG. 2 (b), inwhich frame members 9 are attached to front and rear sides of a box 8,and these members 8 and 9 are formed continuously as one body. Theconverter 5 is provided on its front and rear side surfaces at theirupper portions with shafts or shaft-like projections 10 which arefixedly or loosely mounted thereto, and the converter is mountedrotatably to cover 2 by inserting the projectons 10 into recesses formedon the front and rear side walls of cover 2.

The lever 4 is connected to converter 5 by fitting the former slidinglyto the latter so that inner surface lugs 7 of lower projections 6 of thelever will enter into the lower surface of square box 8 of the latter.The connecting operation and the removal operation are performed byutilizing the resiliency or elasticity of projections 6.

The lever 4 is usually made of transparent or at least semi-transparentcolored synthetic resin, and in order to illuminate it from itsinterior, a lamp 11 is mounted at the inner base portion of square box 8of converter 5. At the center portion of lower surface of each of frontand rear frame portions 9 there is provided a recess within which asliding member 13 (see FIG. 2 (b) is inserted with a spring 12 (see FIG.1).

The insulator base member 1 has penetrated therethrough and securedthereto a central terminal 14 and left and right terminals 15 and 16,respectively, and a movable contact plate 17 is placed on the top end ofthe central terminal 14 free to incline to the left and to the right.The upper surface of each of terminals 15 and 16 forms a stationarycontact against the movable contact 17. The lower end of sliding member13 is placed on the upper surface of movable contact plate 17 underpressure; it may be shifted left and right by the rocking operation oflever 4 to convert the on and of states of the left and right hand sidecontacts.

In order to remove lever 4 from converter 5, the assembly of these twois moved from the resting position after operation as shown in FIG. 1 tothe neutral position where lever 4 stands vertically, and at this statethe latter can be pulled upwards to remove it. To this end, of course,clearance corresponding to the height of lug 7 must exist between leftand right side outer surfaces of lever 4 and confronting inner surfacesof cover 2.

Now, if lever 4 and converter 5 are thus constructed removably as abovestated, it might happen sometimes that at the end of an operationoflever 4, for converting its inclined state from either one side to theother side, one side portion of lever 4 would be disengaged fromconverter 5 to float up and eventually be separated entirely. The reasonis that such a situation as shown in FIG. 3 would occur. That is to say,in FIG. 3 there must exist some clearance between outer side surfaces oflower projections 6 oflever 4 and the confronting inner side surfaces ofswitch receptacle 2 (for the reason above stated), and if, as shown inthe figure, when lever 4 comes to its end position inclined to the righthand side, converter 5 first contacts with receptacle 2 and at this timethere exists still a considerable amount of clearance between projection6 and receptacle 2, then when lever 4, which is the operating member, ispushed strongly in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figurethe projection 6 will be detached (as shown by the dotted line in thefigure) from box portion 8 of converterS, and at last it might becompletely separated away in an upward direction.

In order to prevent this, such a construction as shown in FIG. 4 may beadopted, so that when lever 4 attains the end position inclined to theright hand side, the extension below the lug 7 at the lower end portionof projection 6 first contacts with the inner side surface of receptacle2, and by the fact that, at the same time, the upper surface portion oflug 7 is pressed inwardly to engage with lower surface of box portion 8of converter, whereby the detachment of lever 4 is prevented. Here,however, at the normal resting end position of lever 4, there may exista small amount of clearance between its lower end portion and receptacle2. The essential thing is that when lever 4 is subjected to strongimpulse-like force such as occurs when it is strongly operated forrocking, the detachment oflever 4 is prevented by the cooperation of thecontacting of the lower extension of the end portion of the projection 6with receptacle 2 and the engagement of upper surface portion of innerlug 7 of lever 4 with corresponding surface portion of converter 5. Inaddition to the projections 6 having resilient flexibility, there may beprovided projections at the lower portions of the front and rearsurfaces of lever 4 which are wide in the direction perpendicular to theprojections 6 shown in the figures and have no flexibility in the leftand right direction, the left and right hand side surfaces of the lowerend portions of the projections being made to contact with innersurfaces of receptacle 2. Furthermore, in order to prevent thedetachment stated above, it is desirable to select the position of lowerend portion of lever 4 as much lower as possible than center shaft 10.-

An advantage obtained by the lever 4 being made removable or detachableis that it becomes easily possible to select any one color of the leverwhich serves as indicator of on or of state of the switch from variouspossible colors, for example, red, blue, yellow and others; or, tochange the color one to another, in accordance with customers demands.Namely, the necessity as before to prepare beforehand a large number ofswitches per each of those various colors is eliminated, and it is onlynecessary to prepare switch main parts except lever 4 as common for alland only levers 4 of various different colors, thereby various demandsof customers can be met immediately, with the result that the amount ofgoods in stock can be considerably reduced. Furthermore, in case ofswitches as shown in the figures wherein alamp 11 is internallycontained for illuminating lever 4, such an advantage is also obtainedthat it becomes easily possible to replace or exchange the lamp when itbecomes inoperable or for replying to the I demand of various differentvoltage rating values of the lamp, for example, 6V, 12V, 18V, 24V, andthe like by merely removing the lever 4 and exposing the lamp forreplacement.

According to the invention, the removal or exchange of lever 4 asdescribed above can be easily performed, while in normal use conditionthe lever 4 is prevented from detachment from converter 5, beingconnected thereto even against impulsive force produced at the end ofleft and right rocking operation of lever 4.

I claim:

1. A lever switch comprising a receptacle;

at least one stationary contact;

a contact member movable relatively to said station ary contact;

converter means rotatably supported in said receptacle for rocking tothe left and right and converting said movable contact member relativeto said stationary contact;

and an upwardly projecting operating lever for actuating said convertermeans, said lever being formed separately from said converter means andhaving resilient lower projections extending below the axis of rotationof said converter means, each projection having means on its innersurface for resiliently engaging the outer surface of said convertermeans, the lower end of the outer surface of said projections beingspaced from the inner wall of said receptacle when said lever is in thecentral neutral position, said space being sufficient to permit saidprojections to be resiliently disengaged from said converter wall, andwhen said lever has been rocked to the left or right position saidprojections move to substantially close said space so that said space isinsufficient to permit such disengagement.

2. A lever switch according to claim 1, wherein the left and right lowerends of said lever are positioned lower than the rotation center shaftof said lever.

3. A lever switch according to claim 1, wherein a lamp is containedwithin said converter means and said lever is made of transparent orsemi-transparent material.

4. A lever switch as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means on the innersurface of each projection for resiliently engaging the outer surface ofsaid converter means comprises a lug.

t 1' i t i

1. A lever switch comprising a receptacle; at least one stationarycontact; a contact member movable relatively to said stationary contact;converter means rotatably supported in said receptacle for rocking tothe left and right and converting said movable contact member relativeto said stationary cOntact; and an upwardly projecting operating leverfor actuating said converter means, said lever being formed separatelyfrom said converter means and having resilient lower projectionsextending below the axis of rotation of said converter means, eachprojection having means on its inner surface for resiliently engagingthe outer surface of said converter means, the lower end of the outersurface of said projections being spaced from the inner wall of saidreceptacle when said lever is in the central neutral position, saidspace being sufficient to permit said projections to be resilientlydisengaged from said converter wall, and when said lever has been rockedto the left or right position said projections move to substantiallyclose said space so that said space is insufficient to permit suchdisengagement.
 2. A lever switch according to claim 1, wherein the leftand right lower ends of said lever are positioned lower than therotation center shaft of said lever.
 3. A lever switch according toclaim 1, wherein a lamp is contained within said converter means andsaid lever is made of transparent or semi-transparent material.
 4. Alever switch as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means on the innersurface of each projection for resiliently engaging the outer surface ofsaid converter means comprises a lug.